


The Gardener

by Airplanesandcookies (Mosgirllee)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Gardening, Love Language, M/M, acts of service, jack is oblivious sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 18:12:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17750954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mosgirllee/pseuds/Airplanesandcookies
Summary: If Jack had just realized that he had a crush on Bittle a year ago, then maybe he could have avoided this entire awkward situation.“Wow.” It’s all that can Bittle can say.  And frankly, Bittle normally says a lot.Jack waved his hand over towards meticulous backyard garden that he had built, planted and maintained over the summer.“I can explain.”He couldn’t explain.





	The Gardener

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writingonpostcards](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingonpostcards/gifts).



> For the prompt neighbors/getting together/fluff/awkward flirting
> 
> This was a joy to write. I hope you enjoy it as much I enjoyed writing it.

If Jack had just realized that he had a crush on Bittle a year ago, then maybe he could have avoided this entire awkward situation.

“Wow.” It’s all that can Bittle can say. And frankly, Bittle says a lot. 

Jack waved his hand over towards meticulous backyard garden that he had built, planted and maintained over the summer.

“I can explain.”

He couldn’t explain.

***  
Jack couldn’t pinpoint the moment in which his feeling for Bitty bloomed. Was it Bitty’s graduation? His own graduation? Maybe, when Bits took that hip check his freshman year? That didn’t seem quite right. Hell, who knows? Maybe it went all the way back to the first moment they met. 

Bitty has always had a way of sparking a lot of emotions in Jack, all at once. It’s kind of overwhelming to be honest. But probably one of them was a seed for love.

Either way, Jack kicked himself for being oblivious to the fact that he was clearly infatuated with Bittle for far longer than he realized. 

Obliviousness made it easy to reason away his utter delight when Bits announced that he had taken a job at Brown. It’s nice to have a close friend move into the neighborhood. 

And when Bittle had trouble finding reasonable accommodations, then, it was easy to justify an earlier move into a bigger house in a quieter neighborhood. Once he earned his C, he figured he was going to stay in RI for at least five years anyway, and it’s nice to have someplace to stretch out in and call home. 

The house was more than big enough for him and a roommate. It came with four bedrooms, a couple of bathrooms, an attached garage and a large backyard that was essentially a barren dust bowl with weeds and dead bushes.

“Oh wow! Jack, look at all this space back here!” Bitty had exclaimed as soon as he walked out the side door that previous fall. “You can build a deck for company and barbeques. I am picturing the most perfect garden! You could have fruit trees and vegetables. There’s room for a couple of rain barrels and even some flowers.” 

“Big plans on my yard? I didn’t figure you as a gardener.”

Bitty batted his eyes, “I am a man of many talents. Though even I can admit, gardening is not one of them. I have a black thumb. But I always appreciate the fruits of labor.”

Jack could imagine that. Bits using fresh herbs in his garden, canning tomatoes and making salsa for friends, sharing his love of cooking with anyone who walked into his kitchen. 

He tucked the thought away in the back of his mind.

***  
The thought popped back up again sometime the following March, when the ground was still half frozen and nothing was growing yet. 

Spare time was sparse, but he always found a few minutes to pop into the library, return the stack of Bittle’s books that sat by the front doorway past their return date, and pick up a few books for himself for the road.

The front display was a riot of colorful paper flowers with a sign, “It’s never too early to start thinking about your garden.” Underneath, a selected assortment of gardening how-to books beckoned. 

Jack grabbed a copy of “Kitchen Gardening for Beginners”. 

The next week, he grabbed “The Backyard Gardener” and bought a few heirloom seed packets from the internet. 

Jack never could do anything half-assed. 

***

“Jack? Why is there a pile of lumber in the backyard?” Bittle asked one morning, looking rumpled in Jack’s old Samwell t-shirt. The shirt had gotten mixed up in Bittle’s laundry when he first moved in, but Jack didn’t mind him keeping it. It looked better on him anyway. 

“Thinking of building a few garden boxes. It’ll give me something to do over the summer. Got to do something with that yard, eh?”

Bitty smiled into his coffee mug. “Just let me know how I can help.”

Bittle wasn’t kidding when he said he had a black thumb. Only a few of the seedlings that Jack started in the cold start of spring had survived Bitty’s enthusiastic overwatering, but that wasn’t a bad thing, he joked. “No, you were weeding out the strongest seedlings.”

Bitty still looked skeptical, but Jack was amused. And he diligently planted before dawn to get them started in ground before hopping on the road for a playoff game.

***

Jack drove Bits to the airport late in May. “I don’t want to go to Madison.”

Jack also didn’t want Bits to go to Madison, but he couldn’t voice it as clearly. 

“You’re doing a good thing. Your moomaw needs you.” 

“She’s the only reason I’m going.” Bitty pouted as he sunk down into his carseat. “Broke her arm in Zumbaa. How in the world did she manage that?”

Jack shrugged, “I would have bet money that the jam feud came to blows.”

“That only happened once, and it was when someone outside the family insulted the both the Phelps and Bittles.” 

“I’m going to miss you, bud.” Jack mumbled to his steering wheel just as Bitty jumped out.

“Me too, Jack.” 

***

Shitty had always said that Jack needed a hobby. 

Gardening is a great hobby. And carpentry. And landscaping. 

He had the time on his hands. 

And he missed Bittle fiercely. 

***  
8 weeks without Bitty dancing in the kitchen, laying on his sofa, chirping him while they inhabited each other’s space went by as slow as Jack imagined, but it went by.

“Wow.” Bittle said again and Jack could feel his pulse quicken as he rushed to explain. 

“I had some time on my hands. Dad was excited to help build the deck, so that was a fun project. Mom had some ideas about flowers. And you said how you liked cooking with fresh herbs and veggies. So I made sure to grow some stuff that I knew you would like. No more having to buy cherry tomatoes, huh.”

Jack knew he was rambling and forced himself to breathe. 

“It’s just like I imagined it. Jack. Wow.” And suddenly Bitty’s face crumpled and he rushed to turn away, his voice false and bright.

“Well, I guess I’ll just go whip up something from this garden. How about a salad?”

Jack caught his arm before Bitty could run into the house. “You don’t like it?”

Bitty huffed a laugh and wiped at his eyes, “Jack, I love it. Whoever snatches you up is going to love it. You made a house for a family. It’s perfect.”

Jack knew that he was oblivious most of the time. He’s relieved to know that he isn’t the only one. It makes it easy to take the first step.

“Bud. I made this for you.”

Bitty hiccuped a bit and looked back over at the yard, wide eyed and wild. “No.”

Jack started to smile, “Yes. I missed you so much. And everytime I thought about it, I came out here and puttered around. This is for you.”

Bitty walked to the middle of the yard and slowly took in the backyard all over again, from the pair of apples trees in the far corner, the raised square foot garden bed of vegetables, the barrels for potatoes, the trellises for beans and vines, the flower beds filled with roses and lavender, the herb window boxes, and rain barrels. There were frames for beehive set up in the far back. Jack had even included tables and chairs for sitting on the deck with the beams raised for a pergola. 

Bitty outstretched his hand and Jack rushed to take it. “This is for me.” he stated. 

“Yes.”

“Good.” And Bitty pulled Jack in and kissed him gently on the lips. 

When Jack gently pulled away, he rested his forehead against Bitty’s. “Good. Also, do you have recipes for tomatoes? I had no idea four plants could produce that much fruit.”


End file.
